Andante's history
Andante was originally commissioned (in 2003) and operated by a commercial company known as Ownerships. In 2003 Ownerships were ordering their new vessels from Milburn Boats on Graham Reeves steelwork and to a range of layout designs they had made popular. Their boats were all named after canal villages and of course had a common livery of dark blue and cream. Andante was originally named after the Staffordshire village of Wolverley.
When the Ownerships company collapsed (around 2010?), Wolverley's owners took over her management, operating her privately until 2016, when she was sold to a brokerage. We purchased her in February 2017 as a new 12 share syndicate, operating very differently from the original group who, except for being non-profit, had stuck very closely to the Ownerships modus operandi.
At the end of 2019, we made some changes, the main one being a reduction to 10 shares, enabling everyone to have 3 weeks in British Summer Time. Given that we have no allegiance to the Stafford shire village of Wolverley nor to the Ownerships company, it seemed an appropriate time for something of a fresh start, hence the change of name. In due course, I'm sure we will make changes to the livery in order to distance ourselves still further from our Ownerships heritage.
When the Ownerships company collapsed (around 2010?), Wolverley's owners took over her management, operating her privately until 2016, when she was sold to a brokerage. We purchased her in February 2017 as a new 12 share syndicate, operating very differently from the original group who, except for being non-profit, had stuck very closely to the Ownerships modus operandi.
At the end of 2019, we made some changes, the main one being a reduction to 10 shares, enabling everyone to have 3 weeks in British Summer Time. Given that we have no allegiance to the Stafford shire village of Wolverley nor to the Ownerships company, it seemed an appropriate time for something of a fresh start, hence the change of name. In due course, I'm sure we will make changes to the livery in order to distance ourselves still further from our Ownerships heritage.
In the winter of 2022/2023 Andante went through a number of upgrades.
The roof was fully stripped back and repainted in midnight blue colour, by Chris Mumford at Ashby Boat Company.
The roof was fully stripped back and repainted in midnight blue colour, by Chris Mumford at Ashby Boat Company.
During this period too, we also had the boiler replaced, bathroom refit and new laminate flooring installed throughout the boat.
